Whos your favorite UM hoops player (current)

Submitted by ralphgoblue on January 13th, 2021 at 12:41 PM

My favorite Wolverine to watch is CHAUNDEE BROWN    he is a lock down defender,brings great energy off the bench,plus he can score ,He brings an attitude to the game like a mad-man, He will dunk ,(then do a Chris Webber foot stomp) then get back on defense and be in his mans face the entire defensive possession. He has an endless motor .Looks like he can have a nice 15 year career over seas and make a good living doing something he loves . There is no drop off when he enters the game on both ends of the court .... 

mastawen

January 13th, 2021 at 12:46 PM ^

Love them all, but I think my favorite is the other transfer Mike Smith.  Dude has the offense under such control out there.  He's like a better version of Simpson offensively (but worse defensively).  His pull back three in the first half last night had shades of Stauskas, and his no look bounce pass to Davis for the dunk in the second half was brilliant.

Frank Chuck

January 13th, 2021 at 12:53 PM ^

Mike Smith elevates our offense.

Xavier Simpson was a tremendous PG and court general but he had a notable weakness - he couldn't consistently pull-up off-the-dribble and make shots. Hence, defenses could sag off him which made things tougher inside the arc for drivers/slashers/post players.

Mike Smith can punish defenses with his shot.

Btw, I love how Smith battle last night on defense against post-ups. You could see it early in the game that the coaches had prepared him well for those plays. He's a very willing defender but limited a bit by his size. That said, he gives effort when he knows what's expected of him.

mastawen

January 13th, 2021 at 12:58 PM ^

He is a big key to Dickinson's early success and development.  He's consistently getting the ball to Hunter in good position to finish easily.  And his ability to shoot and finish on drives sets it all up.  Dakich was going crazy for his ability to make layups, which really is hard to do at that size, hence why Simpson resorted to that beloved hook shot. 

Toasted Yosties

January 13th, 2021 at 12:49 PM ^

Dickinson. He’s an angry safety valve. Can’t get the bucket? Just toss it to Dickinson and let him motor over some poor sap(s) to get it in. Every time we get a big man, I think this is the best we’ll ever get, but I’m continuously and happily proven wrong.

San Diego Mick

January 13th, 2021 at 12:51 PM ^

Oh man,  so many to choose from  but for me it's Franz with Hunter a close 2nd. Franz just does so many things for the team, he can bring the ball up, can dominate when shots are falling, defends and rebounds really well. I agree with Dakich that he's the best NBA prospect in the B1G. 

MGolem

January 13th, 2021 at 1:49 PM ^

Totally agree. Would love to see him get to a team, like the Heat, that actually develops players. His shooting numbers this year suggest he can continue to blossom and with that defense, and body, he can stick in the league. If Lu Dort can be a legitimate contributor no reason to think Chaundee can't. Similar build but Chaundee is taller, and a better shooter. 

Ezeh-E

January 13th, 2021 at 1:03 PM ^

There is no wrong answer but mine's Chaundee. As a Wake fan as well, I love seeing someone who's worked so hard in losing efforts for 3 seasons get to have success and fun.

oriental andrew

January 13th, 2021 at 4:52 PM ^

You may be looking for the Wake fan version, but here is the Hello post:

https://mgoblog.com/content/hoops-hello-chaundee-brown

Notable quotables:

Brown was a top 50 recruit in the class of 2017, landing #36 on the composite, and he's been a starter at Wake the last two years. 

his numbers were at an ACC school and should transfer more or less intact. Those topline numbers: 51/33/83 shooting and a 109 ORTG on 21% usage.

Brown is a burly wing whose game depends heavily on his physicality.

Brown is a mediocre deep shooter who's hit 33% of his 270 career threes, and there's little upside from the context. (Note: he hit 39% of his 41 3PT so far)

Brown made a major impact on Wake Forest's two point percentage on both ends of the floor and had a noticeable one on the defensive boards...Put another way: over a game's worth of possessions (70), Wake was 7 points better with Brown on the court than off.

Brown plays off the ball and is largely content to take what comes to him. He's an opportunistic offensive player who will drive to the basket off closeouts or scramble situations; he's very good at identifying spots where he might be able to grab an OREB and regularly attempts to chase them down.(Note seen with his put-backs in a few games)

He is a mansome rebounder and a solid on-ball defender. 

This reminded me that Nojel Eastern had committed to Michigan at one point as a transfer. That's weird.  

Also, a commenter in the Hello post says:

I'm a Wake alum and have watched more terrible Wake Forest basketball over the last few years than most. A few things that echo or add context to the previous comments and main article:

1) Chaundee Brown is a great fit for this team in that he is a stronger defender than the metrics are likely to show. Wake lacked an identity on defense (and on offense, but more on that later) and was terrible at anything that you would hope a well-coached team would be. Any success that Brown had on defense was due to his own ability. Putting him in a coherent defensive system that currently needs a physical presence should allow him to flourish.

2) Offensively, Brown is a great role player that was often forced to take on a role that asked him to do more than that. The cause for this was Wake's lack of offensive identity. Wake's offense consisted of alternating streaks of feeding Sarr in the post and passing the ball around the three point line until someone jacked up a three or took a highly contested drive to the basket. On the rare occasions that worked, Sarr and Childress had huge games while Brown showed many of the offensive traits (good and bad) outlined in the original article. I think that Juwan Howard's offense and coaching should help a lot on this end of the floor.

3) As a Wake fan, I am bummed to see him leave, which passes the Bill Simmons test of basing the success of a transaction on how the opposing team's fan base feels about it. As a Michigan fan, I'm anxious to see what he can do on a team that isn't competing for dead last in the conference.

Blue In NC

January 13th, 2021 at 1:10 PM ^

I am really liking all of the players and don't want to discard the guys that have been here but if I had to choose right now it's C Brown because of the intensity and enthusiasm followed closely by M Smith for his willingness to sacrifice scoring to setup others and his hard work on the D end.  Both of those guys are playing way above my expectations and epitomize the drive of this team.

rice4114

January 13th, 2021 at 1:17 PM ^

Brooks/Davis. They are a look at our future (and our past) here at U of M. They represent Howards floor for players and I dont mean that as an insult. They are a big part of this historic run and they show us what he can do with high IQ, high energy players gifted or not. Although Brooks is showing his athletic ability this year for sure. I want to see Brooks take over a game I really think he could go off one game and shock us all. I think you could make 2 starting line ups from this team and they could compete with each other.

WestQuad

January 13th, 2021 at 1:30 PM ^

I put Chaundee Brown in Dennis Rodman/Ben Wallace bucket.  On a bad team they are not going to be your favorite player, but on a good championship caliber team, they are the glue that brings it all together.